The trouble stems from comments at the opening of the Hockey Night in Canada playoff broadcast of Game 6 between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers on CBC.

“They were the twin targets of the coordinated attacks on 9/11,” the eight-time Gemini Award-winning MacLean started the show with. “It’s crazy to compare what the emergency respondents did at that time. You can’t help but be struck by the players and the way they’ve played these games. They are like police officers, they are like firefighters. You can’t fight fire with ego. The pain these men have faced, the price they keep on paying, the hearts they keep on lifting.”

Somehow, that set off a firestorm of criticism with some commenting that it was insensitive to compare the victims and heroes of 9/11 and today’s highly paid professional athlete.

“He marginalized those who lost their lives while attempting to save others,” read one comment on a torontosun.com story.

“It was an incredibly stupid thing for MacLean to do,” commented another. “He deserves the criticism coming his way.”

Not according to Cherry.

On the one hand, you’d think Grapes would be enjoying seeing his “Coach’s Corner” counterpart being the one in the soup for a change.

Instead, he dove over the boards to protect him. And Ron MacLean has found out who is friends are.

“Listen, if he had said something wrong, I would say it,” said Cherry. “He didn’t. It’s not right either to say he did, because no one does more for charities, banquets and to support the troops, firefighters and police.”

In fact, said Cherry, he was using the introduction of the game to honour them. And, said Cherry, no one is more qualified to do so.

“Ron has that kind of character and heart too,” he said. “I was with him in Philadelphia back in 2010 when he went into the water (Delaware River) to help save a guy from drowning. He was brave.”

Cherry said MacLean, who was born on an air base in Zweibrucken, Germany, and is an Honorary Colonel for the 1 Air Movements Squadron at 17 Wing Winnipeg of the Canadian Forces Air Command, does so much behind the scenes to help support the men and women who are Canada’s heroes in uniform.

“His dad (Ron Sr.) is a 30-year veteran of the air force,” said Cherry. “I don’t think you will find a soldier or firefighter upset.”

Also, both Don and Ron were friends with 9/11 victim Garnet (Ace) Bailey, who was on board United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the World Trade Center’s south tower during the Sept.11.

“People think Ron would say something against him?”

Still, MacLean, author of the book Cornered, decided to take the high road and clarify his remarks in a statement issued by the CBC.

“Washington and New York. The two cities united by the tragedy of 9/11. I, like everyone on the planet in his or her lifetime, saw beyond the horror, the single greatest testament to the strength of the human spirit in the efforts of the first responders”, said MacLean.

“We never know if we’ll have that spirit. The bravery, the resilience. As I made clear, the hockey games in no way compare. However, sports has proven a worthy training ground in nurturing the qualities which beget that spirit.

“To say he plays like a firefighter or a policeman would instantly conjure the traits an athlete most desires, especially in New York and Washington. There could be no higher praise of a player, no greater choice of a role model.

“But as I said of first responders, ‘Our worst day is their every day’. They stand alone.”

It was a nice sentiment, but Cherry said he shouldn’t have had to make it.

“I just don’t understand any of it,” said Grapes. “He was just saying they had the same heart and spirit. No good deed goes left unpunished, I guess.”

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